Born with Wil-fork to lead

Credit: Christopher Evans

INDIANAPOLIS — When coach Bill Belichick was working with the offense during yesterday’s practice, he happened to look over in Vince Wilfork’s direction.

The defensive lineman wasn’t resting. Instead, he was running sprints across the field. Less than a week away from Super Bowl XLVI, the 30-year-old captain still is trying to better himself.

It’s the prototypical “Patriot Way” attitude, and it’s helped him lead this defense to the championship game. It’s something Wilfork said he learned during his rookie season in 2004, working with Willie McGinest, Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour and Mike Vrabel.

“We had a bunch of guys that was on that team that led by example. You just see how they work, and I took that and I seen it,” Wilfork said. “It didn’t take me long to understand the Patriot Way and what it meant to be a Patriot. It was hard work. That’s what it was all about with these guys. They never left anything undone. They always wanted to try and make it as perfect as possible when it comes to little details.”

The Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX against the Philadelphia Eagles that season, and now Wilfork finds himself in a similar roll.

He says he leads by example, and during a season in which the defense has been under fire, Wilfork has picked up the pieces.

One example of that came in the AFC title game against the Baltimore Ravens. Wilfork played 67-of-70 snaps and made multiple big stops.

Belichick said Wilfork takes a lot of pride in not coming off the field, and that’s a credit to his work ethic.

“He’s in good condition. We’re out there at practice today during the offensive period and he’s running sprints back and forth across on the field, working on his conditioning, with a week to go in the season,” Belichick said. “That’s indicative of his competitiveness, his desire to be good and constantly be good week after week for the entire season.”

As for being the leader this defense needs, Wilfork said he’s had that quality all his life.

“All my life I’ve been competitive. I always want to be in the middle of everything,” Wilfork said. “All my life I’ve thought that I’m a leader, and I think leaders have to take control at some point and show the will to do whatever it takes to turn things around, whether it’s bad or positive. At a young age, I always had that fight, but it’s a good fight.”